


Ice-Cream, Graduating, and, Technically, Some Dirty Dancing

by Stylin_Breeze



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Classic films - Freeform, Dirty Dancing References, Gen, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, Ice Cream Parlors, Now why is that NOT a tag, Strangers to Friends, The Graduate and Dirty Dancing references, There's A Tag For That, Tokyo Nationals Arc (Haikyuu!!), Wow, spoilers up to chapters 368/369
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24589174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stylin_Breeze/pseuds/Stylin_Breeze
Summary: Usuri sneaks away from his troubles for some ice-cream. Coincidentally, so does Ennoshita.
Relationships: Ennoshita Chikara & Usuri Michiru
Kudos: 11





	Ice-Cream, Graduating, and, Technically, Some Dirty Dancing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crows_Imagine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crows_Imagine/gifts).



> Happy Birthday!
> 
> Well, this was supposed to be on your birthday, but my internet failed, so please accept this one day late. XD

Usuri set the Gotta Have It size of Cold Stone ice-cream on the table. And then, no matter how uncomfortable the metal table felt, he set his forehead on the rim.

Most of the rest of his teammates were at the stadium, hoping to see more of the outcome of Fukurodani’s nationals run.

Usuri couldn’t do it. If he had been able, he would have put on a smile to politely decline joining his teammates, but his melancholy bled through like an old dressing. Micchan let the kids choose what to do on their final day in Tokyo (sadly, they wouldn’t get to watch the championship game tomorrow), so while most opted to go to the stadium, Usuri stayed at the hotel to study.

His mind aflutter, very little studying happened, of course; and lo and behold, he trotted out into the strangely comforting streets of Tokyo to find some ice-cream that his phone informed him was around the corner. He wandered out in his club jacket because he didn’t feel like actually picking something else to wear.

Though he kept it together enough to order, at last he couldn’t take it anymore. His mind was so clouded he sat at the first empty chair, not noticing that the seat opposite had been reserved with an ice-cream bowl and a black jacket draped on the seatback.

With head down, he mulled in depression. What he told Wakatsu yesterday hung on his mind. Usuri had relied too much on his ace. It was why they lost, he told himself. It was why they couldn’t carry their coach off the court on their shoulders….

“It’s all my fault…,” he muttered aloud.

“Is it now?”

Michiru’s neck snapped up so fast he got whiplash.

The person who had saved the other seat had returned and sat down without disturbing the uninvited guest at his table.

“S-sorry!” Usuri leaned back.

“No, no, it’s fine,” the other boy said. He showed part of the back of his black jacket to indicate he too was a volleyball player. “Since you’re not at the arena, I guess you got knocked out too.”

“My bad for takin’ yer table….”

“It’s all right. Name’s Ennoshita by the way,” the boy finished with a soft smile. “You’re from the team that played Fukurodani yesterday, aren’t you?”

Usuri’s nod sank into a sulk so fast. Chikara could tell mentioning Fukurodani was a sore spot on too many levels.

“We lost to Kamomedai,” he quickly added, to even the playing field.

Usuri’s interest piqued, recalling the commotion around the orange team’s speedy middle blocker leaving the court amidst the third set.

“Oh! Is, uh, is your teammate OK?”

“Yeah,” Chikara said, rolling the spoon in the top of the ice-cream. “He’s resting today. A few of us went to watch Kamomedai’s game. Just heard they lost their match—to Ichibayashi.”

“Ichibayashi ain’t got an’one special, but that makes ’em so hard to counter,” Usuri mused.

“They’re too versatile, and their defense is too solid. Most of them excel at emergency sets, so it’s hard to narrow their attack options.”

“You been watchin’ them too?”

Ennoshita blushed with a bit of embarrassment. “Yeah, I, uh, was watching clips of their games today, for next year…in case….” How extraordinarily presumptuous to assume they would make it to nationals next year.

After all, it’s not like they would have solid defense in Daichi or the crushing attacks from Asahi. The new squad, under Chikara, would have to compensate for those losses if the team were to succeed. And he sometimes wondered if he could.

“I hope you do make it,” Usuri said. “I was hankerin’ to see that speedy middle blocker of yours.” He pumped his fist, willfully neglecting to mention he’d already been pondering ways to shut down Karasuno’s superfast quicks.

Ennoshita enjoyed the man’s carefree flippancy—they were the types to get tripped up by their star pair—and then happened to notice the boy had ordered the same flavor of ice-cream.

“You like Birthday Cake Remix too?” Chikara said.

“It beats ’em all!” Usuri crowed, “even when it’s not ma birthday!”

They chowed into the respective treats, and by the time they emptied their respective bowls, they’d had their fill of conversation and their stomachs’ fill of frozen milk.

“I hate myself,” Ennoshita moaned from his bloated abdomen. Usuri, scrunching his eyes shut, woefully nodded in agreement.

Leaning over the side of the chair languidly, Chikara read a clock on the wall saying the time was 2:30. Then he recalled the reason he’d left the hotel altogether!

When researching nearby amenities, he discovered a theater that showed old films within walking distance, a difficult find back home. Nothing beat the experience of seeing the classics on the big screen as they were made to be viewed. At 3pm, they had showings of two of his faves, and he’d hoped all morning to see one to distract his brain. Sensing Chikara was hung up on the future of the team (not to mention his own after high school), Kinoshita and Narita badgered the future captain into going, promising they’d cover for him.

Unfortunately while trudging to the theater, the idea of going by himself proved less and less fun the farther he got, and so he’d stopped off at the Cold Stone to kill time and ponder what he really wanted to do.

However, since Usuri was also running from dispirited emotions, Chikara decided to take a gamble with his new acquaintance.

“Hey. If you want to kill some more time, do you like film?”

Michiru managed to crack one eye open to view Chikara. “Hm? Yeah!” He snapped forward. “We actually did a class back home. Watched _Citizen Kane_. That’s a real piece of work!”

Chikara, who in unfamiliar company struggled not to confess he found _Citizen Kane_ a little overdone, managed to force a smile that Usuri fortunately took as real.

“Anyway, they’ve got a theater nearby,” Ennoshita refocused. “You probably have somewhere to be though, so—”

“Let’s go!” Usuri yelled excitably. “Gimme a sec.” Michiru proceeded to send a bunch of text messages in rapid succession. After a few replies, he smiled at Chikara: “OK, I’m free!”

“What did you do?”

“We’re preparin’ a supper for the third-years tonight, but Micchan-sensei’s got it covered, so all I need to do is be at the hotel by 6 to help set it up.”

“If you’re really sure, shall we?” Chikara said.

Usuri shot up out of the chair, momentarily stinging the muscles in his shoulders still sore from back-to-back matches yesterday.

Chikara spotted Usuri cringe with concern.

“Here, let me help you,” he offered without waiting for a request. Right away Ennoshita dug his thumbs into the sweet spot of Usuri’s back. The pain subsided magically after a couple of seconds.

“Dang! That’s amazin’!”

Chikara felt quite flattered. “I used to help my grandmother with her back when I’d visit her, and now I’m just used to it with my teammates.”

And so, they completed the stroll to the nearby theater. It had the gaudy façade of faux Ancient Greek architecture, dating to the era when theaters competed by how outlandishly they could decorate. The marquee advertised the two main features showing right now: _The Gradu_ ate and _Dirty Dancing_.

“Ever seen ’em?” Ennoshita queried his guest.

“Nope. They good?” Usuri asked.

“Yeah, I think so. I’ve seen them both. _Graduate_ is a classic. _Dirty Dancing_ has its own flair, but I’ll admit I’m feeling _Graduate_ a bit more right now.”

“Is it about a graduate?”

Now Chikara realized, genuinely, his guest knew nothing of the two films. “Well, of course,” he giggled.

“You ever feel sad thinkin’ about our seniors graduatin’ and goin’ out into the world and livin’ lives outside of club?”

“I do now,” Chikara said with a straight face.

“I say _Graduate_ , cos then we can think of all the happy things that Wakatsu and your captain, Sawamura, will get to do once they’re outta high school! Right??”

When they left the theater hours later, the sky shimmered orange. They proceeded at a casual but purposeful pace back to their hotels, coincidently in the same direction.

“Sorry if it wasn’t your kind of film,” Ennoshita presumptuously apologized. Usuri stared at the soft sky, his arms stretched behind his head, his face quite placid.

“Didn’t bug me much. It got me thinkin’ that, there really is a world out there, after we graduate. And we didn’t even watch the one about graduatin’!”

When they got up to the ticket counter, Ennoshita hurriedly asked for two tickets to _Dirty Dancing_ , then pretended he forgot Usuri had chosen _The Graduate_. If Usuri genuinely wanted to think about the _happy_ things to come after graduation, that film was best left for another time.

Usuri’s statement had made Ennoshita think, however. It was true: they both were invested in volleyball right now, not yet aware of the wonders the world had waiting for either of them.

“You know,” Ennoshita began, “I was always thinking I’d go into film after high school, but I’ve been afraid that maybe it’s not what I want. I feel like I want to help people more directly….”

“Well, you sure know how to take care-a muscles! Maybe PT or that like?”

Chikara blinked. He’d never really considered that.

“Maybe…,” he smiled.

And when Chikara could see the tiny Jay Bird Inn across the street, Ennoshita again found himself humbled by its stark contrast to the towering hotel beside.

“Well, my hotel’s here. It was good hanging out,” said Chikara.

“Really?!” Usuri gasped. “This is my hotel too!”

Ennoshita’s eyes widened.

“Yer talkin’ bout that wicked tall one, right?”

Chikara’s blank stare and dead silence were all the reaction he could muster. Usuri carried on with his assumption.

“That’s super awesome! I saw one of the girls’ teams here too!”

Ennoshita grinned timidly. “Oh, really? Imagine that.”

“Hey, there’s Micchan-sensei’s car!” Usuri spotted. It was nearly 6, and the coach was beginning to load food into the building with the assistance of the second-years Subaru Hondo and Haruma Bishin. “Hey! You got time to help? I get it if ya don’t.”

Chikara nodded. “Nope. It’s good. I’ll take some stuff in for you.”

The pair jogged across the road to the coach’s car, and Michiru introduced his new friend genially.

“You said he’s here to help?” Coach Michiko Kuzuri said. “Then get yer butts movin’ and carry some stuff!”

Usuri and Ennoshita flinched and then grabbed a box overflowing with pineapples and watermelons. One oversized watermelon slipped off the top that Chikara narrowly caught. Without the extra weight, the box was light enough for one, so Usuri carried in the crate while Ennoshita transported the stray fruit under his arm.

After the group set the items in a rented banquet hall, Subaru, sweating worse than in a match, announced they were finally done. Mujinazaka’s second-year wing spiker and libero then took an interest in Usuri’s new friend, admiring when they learned he was Karasuno’s forthcoming captain.

“Fancy you two meetin’, since Usuri here’s gonna be our leader next year,” Hondo teased.

“Oh, come on,” Usuri whined. “That ain’t official.”

“You’re too shy about this,” Bishin said matter-of-factly.

Ennoshita checked his phone, saw the time, and decided he should vacate before the rest of the Kyushu team filed in. “Usuri, I should head out. It’s been good meeting someone going through the same stuff as me though. And I hope it’s a fantastic sendoff for your third-years tonight.”

Usuri beamed. “We’re gonna fight you next year, and we ain’t gonna lose!” Usuri taunted.

Chikara furrowed his eyebrows in acceptance of the challenge.

“Also, I want to watch that _Graduate_ some time,” Michiru appended.

Ennoshita shot him a thumbs up. “You got it.”

Chikara sighed in relief when he escaped the hotel without anyone from Mujinazaka noticing. In the hotel driveway, he checked the coast was clear of any of his own teammates—not wanting to explain why he had been there—and then moved inconspicuously towards the Jay Bird Inn.

But when he got to the entrance, Narita and Kinoshita awaited with folded arms.

“We saw you helping those people over there,” Hisashi said.

“What were you doing at the big hotel?” Kazuhito questioned.

Chikara began to sweat. “I carried a watermelon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed~  
> -Breeze


End file.
